Next day Marie awoke to a rather strange mixture of feelings. There was to cozy feeling of a warm blanket, a slight headache and a stiffness in her shoulders, the smell of Logan’s cigarettes close by and her body demanding from her to make a move for the bathroom.
It took her a moment to realize why she was inside of a car instead of her bed, but after a brief look around realization hit her.
She really did it!
A four day road trip with Logan. She had just taken a few of her belongings, some clothes and a little money and of they were.
Looking out of a window slightly iced over this felt surreal and exiting at the same time.
Only then did she notice Logan’s absence and started scanning the surrounding, only to figure that they were not only currently standing at a petrol pump, but that Logan was already paying for gas and some food and made his way back to the car.
Marie hurried to step out of the car.
“Morning snow white. Slept long enough?”
With a somewhat forced smile she made her way past him to the rest rooms and bought herself a coke on the way back.
Logan eyes her with a smile. “Coffee not good for you?”
She hadn’t seen him carrying the Styrofoam cups earlier, but excepted the black and slightly watery stuff anyway.
“Now, Mr. Canadian. Might snow white dare to ask where her guardian is taking her or the destiny a surprise?”
Logan seemed to think that over for a moment.
“Well, kid. If I were taking this trip alone I would say I head straight for the goal. But seeing that I have you in tow, I guess we will try and find some girl compatible fun while we’re on the road.”
“I shudder to think what you understand by ‘girl compatible’. If you try to talk me into dolls that’s seriously going to lead to trouble.”
“Don’t worry. You’ll see in an hour. ”
Bracing himself over and over again, Logan pulled into the parking lot of a big shopping center about an hour later.
“Logan, what are we doing here?”
“First of all: breakfast. And afterward I promise to follow you like a lap dog while you shop....” There was a hint of humor in his eyes when he said ‘lap dog’, but he still felt like his feeling were all across his face.
Over a hamburger Marie finally asked what had him come up with a masochistic idea like that.
“You tell me. You women love shopping. And if you have to elbow the entire human population in the process or wait for hours. You still love it. And all that just for a cheap pullover. I really don’t get it.”
Marie laughed about that. “Don’t worry, I won’t be too hard on you. All I could really use right now is a book. Personally I hate shopping for clothes.”
“You do? But you always go with the others.”
“Yeah, and watch while they buy. First of all I can’t. It’s part of the service that the sales people help you into the clothes if you like to try something on. At least if they slipped into that ‘Can I help you?’ routine. And I really don’t want to scream ‘poisonous skin’ into everyone’s face. And second of all: cloth sizes are outdated. Jubes never finds a fitting shirt. Kitty never finds a fitting jeans. Usually I don’t find anything that really fits me, at least not without trimming it first. Buying clothes is depressing. And there is only a certain amount of shoes a girl needs.”
“So it’s book buying, hmm?”
“Yeah, but still thanks you were willing to go through that.”
Logan learned three valuable lessons during the next two hours.
First of all: that girl could shop in a book store as long as other people shopped in the entire mall.
Second of all: shortly after the holidays even a book store was overcrowded.
And thirdly: Marie had no problem buying four books, two CDs and three DVDs for a four day trip and spend about 150 dollars at once.
She had been intending to use her Christmas money on that, when Logan slammed a couple of bank notes on the counter and dragged Marie along behind him.
On the upside she was now sitting with a really wired book called ‘House of Leaves’ on her lap, read and occasionally she looked out of the window.
Still no wise cracks.
He could get used to that.
Which could explain why he was a little reluctant to pull over and rent a room.
Still, it was only 4 in the evening and he had something in mind.
Marie looked up a little puzzled and started to place a book mark between the open pages.
“You plan to stay here tonight?”
“Why not?” He looked at her.
“Doesn’t really seem like your usual place to stay. Your memories include a number of really shabby hotel rooms, but none of them ever came near three stars. Or four.” Marie was eyeing the entrance. “Do I want to know how you got all the money?”
She just nodded at the lame smile he gave her.
So they took a room, withstood the strange looks the receptionist gave them, hauled the stuff into their room and while Marie seemed ready to settle for the night, Logan dragged her on again.
“Come on, kid. You’re not taking holiday away from every one so you can be lonely. This is about blending into the crowd and being normal. Come on.”
So he drove her to a cinema, allowed her to pick the movie - which turned out to be I am Legend - and threw in some coke and pop corn.
Surprising enough the movie wasn’t that bad. Marie seemed to be fairly engrossed in it he didn’t dislike it as much as he would have thought he would.
Still Marie looked a little lost.
Yeah, no world shattering idea from him so far. Only shopping and a little cinema, but he had hoped she would like it. She didn’t seem to truly dislike it, but enthusiasm still wasn’t the word he would use to describe her.
The easiest way out, that even he could think of, no matter how uncommon it was for him: just talk to her.
“What you wanna do now, kid?”
“How about lunch?”
“Sure. Wishes?”
Logan knew right that second that he had said something really stupid. Her grin almost reached her ears. Understandable seeing that she allowed him to choose between Asian junk food and... Sushi!
“Oh come on big guy, it’s not like you don’t eat salmon or something like that.”
“But it’s raw! God knows how many bacteria could be in that.”
“Logan, food poisoning is nothing to your body and if you allow me to pick something out for you I promise you will even like it.”
Logan doubted that. He doubted it with a passion. But if it would make Marie happy, he would try to cope with raw fish.
Marie went into the store, taking a place at the water line running through the store. Her eyes glinted excitedly because of all the rice specialties.
And with grace and politeness she started talking Japanese to the guy behind the counter, ordering something. The only word Logan could make out was Wok. Only that the guy apologized with a careful smile that he was from Korea and if she would mind repeating that.
So this time Logan had a chance of understanding that she asked if it was possible to order an extra dish, something from the wok, mainly containing meat and a hot sauce. The guy smiled nodded and went with their orders for drinks to fetch something.
Marie already started eyeing the little ships passing her.
“Marie?”
“Hmm?” She had spotted something with salmon and grabbed the dish.
“Well... first of all I didn’t know you love Japanese food.”
“I don’t love it, I simply like it. And - nothing against the food at the mansion - we don’t have a huge range of options in Westchester. I pretty much crave everything that isn’t a beef steak, soup, noodles or seasonal veggies.”
Logan watched as she carefully set up the eating supplies: soy sauce, wasabi and chop sticks. And with a blissful expression she started to munch her salmon sushi.
About ten minutes later Logan’s dish was ready to and he eyed it skeptically.
“You sure this is good?”
“If you don’t like it, I will eat it and you can get a burger later.”
“No, no... I.... Marie?”
“Hmm?” She was eating another piece.
“This... I mean, I really don’t mean to offend you, or something like that, but... where did you learn all these languages? You were speaking German with Kurt, you were speaking Japanese with that guy... And I don’t know how many other languages you might have picked up. How do you do that?”
Marie gulped her food down. “You really don’t know?”
“I wouldn’t be asking if, would I?”
“It’s...” Marie laid her chopsticks aside. “It’s you and Erik.”
Logan knew that had been a really dumb question and a really bad time, but... “You can draw on my knowledge? You mean I am still in your head?”
Marie nodded and took another sushi roll from one of the little boats. But the way she started chewing on her bottom lip wasn’t lost on him.
The rest of the night had been spend in silence and Logan knew he had something to apologize for. He had wanted her to be normal, but as soon as he had gotten her away from all the freaks in the mansion, he had used the first evening to make her feel like an Alien again.
But he had always hoped that his presence inside her head would lessen over time. To know that he still wrecked havoc in there.
He knew he had messed up pretty badly when they were back in the hotel room and Marie left, with a towel and without another word.
The Wolverine & Rogue Fanfiction Archive
Barely Legal Since 2000